This is the first diary in a new series on ecological gardening that I will be writing for the Practical Survivalism and Sustainable Living group here on Daily Kos. Diaries will be posted on Sundays. A specific time will be decided upon once I return to the States in January.
The purpose of this diary series is to share my limited knowledge about a revolutionary mindset that is nothing short of a paradigm shift in our relationship to the natural world. What this diary will not be is a definitive, earth shattering work that claims to understand everything. What will be described here is not "Finchj's way" but rather my understanding of the concept of agroecology and how I tried to internalize and apply it.
I will include an introduction simliar to this one in each diary for sake of continuity and disclosure.
About the author:
(I will not include this from now on)
I want to preface this diary with the very important note: I have zero professional or academic credentials regarding ecological agriculture, landscape management, or anything else. I am a twenty four year old with a bachelor's in history from the University of South Florida and I have been gardening for three years.
My interest in "growing your own" was sparked by my enthusiasm for road cycling and my inability to afford quality, sustainably produced food during college. By my senior year, I was hooked enough to write my senior honor's thesis on organizing around the creation of a student run community garden. For those who care, my application to North Carolina State University, where I plan on studying agroecology, is currently pending. I was previously accepted to the University of Vermont for a similar program, but decided against attending due to the cost of attendance.
This past year I began converting my parent's 1/4 suburban lot to a food forest based upon agroecological science and Permaculture design. I do a poor job maintaining a blog showing off our garden here. I'm not perfect, nor will ever be. I make mistakes. I will share my mistakes.
But I am doing this. Armchair warriors and trolls will be ignored. I will print troll comments and feed them to the worms.
I want to stress that ecological gardening is possible without formal training and is a DIYer dream. Nature will teach you everything you need to know, but since we have limited time here on earth, my aim is to share what I know and where I learned things so the growth will be exponential.
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